eWEEK content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More.
Worldwide spending on information security will reach $71.1 billion in 2014, an increase of 7.9 percent over 2013, with the data loss prevention segment recording the fastest growth at 18.9 percent, according to a report from IT research firm Gartner.
The report said the increasing adoption of mobile, cloud, social and information–often interacting together–will drive use of new security technology and services through 2016, with total information security spending expected to grow a further 8.2 percent in 2015 to reach $76.9 billion.
The highest spending is in verticals such as professional services with 5.6 percent, health care (5.6 percent) and banking (with 5.5 percent) of the overall IT budget allocated to information security.
Respondents in a recent Gartner IT Key Metrics Survey indicate that, overall, organizations will spend an average of $381 per employee on IT security.
Lawrence Pingree, research director at Gartner, told eWEEK there are three areas that can give small businesses crucial security technology.
The first is endpoint (PC and mobile device) anti-virus protection, followed by small business oriented unified threat management, such as network firewalls, and finally mobile security products, such as mobile device management (MDM) and enterprise mobility management (EMM) suites.
“Small businesses can also benefit from managed security services as a component to their Internet connectivity, like broadband services, because they can leverage the security expertise of a larger service provider,” he said. “These services also sometimes include monthly billing to make security more affordable.”
More than 30 percent of security controls deployed to the small and midsize business (SMB) segment will be cloud-based by 2015, and roughly 10 percent of overall IT security enterprise product capabilities will be delivered in the cloud.
In addition, by 2018 more than half of organizations will use security services firms that specialize in data protection, security risk management and security infrastructure management to enhance their security postures, while mobile security will be a higher priority for consumers from 2017 onward.
A recent Gartner survey for bring-your-own-device (BYOD) platforms indicated strong use of mobile phones across almost every company size, and Pingree said the company continues to expect strong interest in securing BYOD.
“Larger enterprises tend to focus on unified device lifecycle management, mobile business processes and mobility support functions in addition to security,” he said. “Security continues to be an enabling factor in mobility.”
More than 32 percent of respondents prioritized mobile security followed by cloud and data security, and Gartner expects mobile security to continue to remain strong as digital business initiatives, mobile business enablement and mobile back-office function integration continues to expand, Pingree noted.